The Curse
by Nyades Road Ghost
Summary: A story describing a mysterious curse laid upon Spike that will come into effect on his 213th birthday. Set in Season 6. *Chapter 3 now up*
1. Chapter One

"Hey, guys? I'm gonna make some popcorn. I'll be right back." Buffy jumped off the couch and headed towards the kitchen. She glanced at the stairs, hoping Spike might come down them. She hadn't seen him all day (which…ok, wasn't _all _that unusual). It was past one in the morning and she was getting worried. **He's a grown man/vampire! He can stay out all he wants. **She thought to herself. Still, maybe something had happened. Just as she turned the microwave on and was watching as the first kernel popped the back door swung open. 

"Hey, uh, Spike."

"Hi." He said, his eyes a bit glazed. She guessed he'd been drinking.

"Where have you been?"

"Why d'you want to know?" He said cautiously.

"Oh, curiosity."

"I was…around. Me and my ol' flask here. Why? Were you…worried?"

"A little."

"So…um…are you busy? Can we talk?" **There's a guy who can handle his liquor… **She thought. **He can still carry on a conversation.**

"I was making popcorn." She turned around to look at the microwave. Still a little time left. "We're watching a movie. 'Top Secret'." She added.

"The one with Val Kilmer?" She nodded. "Classic." Some awkward silence followed. "Uh…luv? Think the snack's done." He said, waggling his finger in the popcorn's general direction.

"Oh. Thanks." She went around in the cabinets, got a bowl out and proceeded to make her food look nice.

"I'm not sure how to ask this, really…" 

"What? Do you need money to buy blood or something?" She said, taking a handful of popcorn and casually popping some in equal intervals into her mouth.

"Not exactly…"

"Dru's back and you want to move in with her."

"No…"

"Oh no! Your Smurf pajamas are missing again! I _know _it was Dawn. I saw her-,"

"No! Will you let me get a word in now?"

"Oh…sorry."

"Can I…stay with…_you _tonight?" He tried to avoid eye contact.

"Well, you already live in my house."

"I mean…in your room with you. I don't want to be by my lonesome tonight."

"Alright, I guess. Why-,"

"And don't leave my side tomorrow, either. Ok?"

"What's tomorrow?"

"It's nothing…" he said, rubbing his neck and focusing on an interesting piece of tile on the floor.

"You're hiding something." She took his hand. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."

"You're going to make a big deal out of it."

"I won't." She lifted her free hand. "Boy Scout's honor. Er…Girl Scout's."

"It's my birthday." He rushed.

"What?" 

He lifted his head and leaned into her face a bit. "My birthday. And that will make it…213 years." He got a faraway look in his eyes, and began pacing slowly and shaking his head. "Something," He said seriously, "Is going to happen."

"You bet it is! I know exactly what I can put on the cake: a smiley face with fangs! And we could put red dye in it to make it look like blood. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"No, you don't understand." He said, stopping his pacing. "Two-hundred and _thirteen_. The unlucky number."

"So?"

"So there's a curse that goes along with it."

A/N: Sorry if I screwed up the age and all…what do you think so far?


	2. Chapter Two

NOTE: Ok, set this in season six. Thanks for telling me that, Leanne! And also, bear with the age. It works with the curse…13? Get it? Yeah. Anyway, thanks so much for the reviews! Tell me your thoughts on this installment, too! (Ick, I kind of wrote it worse than it was in my head…)

"A curse? What kind of a curse?" Buffy asked, trying to hold back laughter.

"I _know _you're trying to laugh. But I'm dead serious."

"Ok…_seriously_, then."

"Well…there was this Indian guy once, and…well, long story short, I made him mad and he hexed me."

"Ok."

"He said that on my 213th birthday my lover would have to choose whether I lived or died."

"How do you know that's what he said?"

"Rough translation."

"And…uh…what would that person have to do?"

"That 'person', you, I suppose, would have some sort of trial. Was fuzzy. Something about a portal. At the time Angelus had me convinced it was a joke but now I'm kinda nervous."

"Well, that's depressing."

"Yeah, and you know what happened later? He got his soul curse."

********************

Buffy glanced at the clock next to her bed. It read 9 o'clock. The sun was peeking through her curtains, though not so much to burn Spike who was sleeping soundly beside her. Nothing had happened in the night, at least. The rest of the day was pretty much the same. Everyone doing their own thing, Spike still sleeping. At 6 that night the Scoobies had gotten together in the living room for a game of Clue. 

"It's got to be Ms. Peacock." Xander said, giving the rest of the information to crack the case.

"Man, you're right." Said Dawn as her face fell.

"That tramp…she was probably having an affair with him." Anya muttered, upset that she'd lost.

"What's going on here?" Spike said, rubbing his eyes as he came down the stairs.

"Oh, nothing, just some Clue playing." Buffy smiled at him and he smiled back, grateful for letting him find comfort in her that night. "Sorry I didn't wake you up."

"Wait, where did you come from?" Xander asked, realizing he hadn't come from the front door. _And _he was in the same clothes as the night before.

"What's it to-," He started, then his face twisted in pain. "GAAAAAAAH!" He exclaimed, falling to his knees.

"Spike?" Buffy began to stand up.

"No! Nobody move!" Willow yelled. Suddenly a bright light flashed through the room, enveloping Spike and a whistling sound drowned out his cries.

"What's going on?" Dawn yelled.

"It's some sort of spell…I think it-," She cut off, surprised. Just as suddenly as it had started, the light went away leaving Spike unconscious and a swirly, pink thing a few feet away from him. 

"I know what it is…" Buffy said quietly. "It's a portal, and I'm the one that has to go into it." She stood up as everyone watched, then started running towards it. 

"Noooooooo!" Xander cried, diving in front of her and unfortunately into the portal. With a slurping sound it closed up, leaving a pile of scattered papers in its place.

"What the hell did he just do?" Buffy said from her place on the floor.

*******************

He landed hard in a dimly lit street. "Ouch…" He said to himself, rubbing his back. He then noticed the road…it was cobbled. He looked up at the building beside him and noticed he was in an alley. "Where am I?" He wandered into the street, looking around wildly. Everything seemed…old fashioned. And it was night, which didn't help much. 

"Oh, Violet! You can be so queer at times!" A shrill voice said out of the darkness, followed by giggling. 

"No, I believe I saw something. For honest, Jo. For honest." Xander hid in the alley again and watched as two women with frilly, fancy dresses walked by. **They look like something out of 'From Hell'. **He thought. They stopped suddenly, and he panicked thinking they saw him. He was just about to greet them when he heard a voice from the opposite direction. 

"Evening, ladies. Did I frighten you?" The voice sounded familiar, but Xander just couldn't place it.

"Oh, my friend here is frightened easily. Aren't you, Violet?" 

"It's alright." The voice said. His footsteps echoed over the stones and stopped where Xander guessed the ladies were standing. "It's just my friend and I. Angelus, come here for a moment, will you?" **Ok, this is weird. **He thought. "We won't hurt you, friends-," The first voice said.

"No, Spike, we won't." Said Angelus sneeringly.

"Not much, at least." With that said, Xander took off running down the alley. Where was he? And why was he listening Spike and Angel kill two women? Had he gone back in time?


	3. Chapter Three

NOTE: Feedback? Please? I want to know if you want me to stop here before you take my computer away and burn it so I can't post anymore. Oh, yeah…I don't own anything in this story 'cept the people I make up. And I'm sorry if any of this is offensive in any way to any Cherokees out there. Back in the Summer's household… 

Buffy was still staring at where the portal had been, her mouth hanging open.

"Buffy, what's going on?" Dawn asked, her voice shaking a little.

"It's a curse."

"How do you know?'

"Because he told me. He said on his 213th birthday something bad would happen. His…erm, the person he loved would have to decide whether he lived or died."

"Are you sure it was the one he loved?" Willow said.

"Well, he said it was a rough translation."

"What language?"

"Indian, I think."

"This sounds familiar…" She said, biting her lip.

"Yeah, I think I know what it is. And I think he translated it wrong." Tara put in softly. "Willow, did you bring your computer?"

"Yeah, hold on…" She got her bag from the couch and produced her laptop. "What? You never know when you might need it. Like now, for instance." She shrugged. "Ok, Tara. Where to?"

"Uh…search for a Cherokee curse, maybe. Something about birthdays?"

"Okey-dokey. Coming up."

"How can you be so jolly, Willow?" Dawn said, tears forming in her eyes. "Xander _and _Spike could both die anytime now!"

"Oh, its not that serious, I don't-," Her eyes grew big.

"What is it?" Buffy asked, glancing over her shoulder.

"Well, I found the curse I think. Same elements…he just, uh translated it wrong. It was supposed to say 'enemy'."

"But why Xander? He's got a lot of other enemies."

"I guess he was the closest. Who knows. But, well, maybe if Spike would have told us what was going on we could have been more prepared. It is pretty bad."

"What?" Dawn asked.

"He's only got 48 hours to do this. He has to stop him from doing whatever he got cursed for. But he doesn't know that."

"Where is he? And why an enemy?"

"Well, it is a curse, not pleasant. That's why it's got to be Xander. He's not blinded by love. And if I'm reading this right…he's gone back in time."

*******************

The sun was _finally _coming up and Xander stepped out of the doorway he'd been hiding in for the past few hours. He decided to roam around until he found a shopkeeper to tell him where he was. The butcher was the first one to open. The bell tinkled above the doorway as he entered and an older women turned to look at him.

"Yeah, what is it?" She looked him up and down a few times. "Say, where'd you come in from? You're one of those fancy French people, ain't ya?" She said in an undoubtedly English accent. 

"No, but I was hoping you could tell me where I was. And what year it is."

She gave a rude chuckle. "Serious, are you?"

"Um, yeah. I am. Could you tell me and I'll leave you alone?"

"Bruce. Come 'ere! Take a look at this one!" She called to the back. A big guy with a bloody apron came out from the back. His thick, black hair was pulled to the back of his neck.

"What do you want? Are you a beggar?"

"No, I just want to know what year it is. And where I am. I…uh, I got really drunk last night and woke up in that alley over there."

The man rolled his eyes. "Second time this week someone's done that. Be more responsible, got me? You're in England. It's 1892. Alright?" Xander nodded. "Now if you aren't buying nothing, get out."

Xander walked back out onto the street, which had a few more people on it now. Mostly merchants or beggars. What was he going to do now? Why hadn't he let Buffy go? She seemed to know what was going on. Shaking his head he wandered into what he figured was an abandoned building. The floor was covered in dust, dirt, various dead rodents…and a pair of boots. He looked up the legs, then the chest, then the face.

"Hello, mate. Nice of you to join us. We were just talking about finding some guests for ourselves." He got a glimpse of three other people before something hard came into contact with the back of his head and everything went black.


End file.
